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Topic Review (Newest First)

Jan 24th, 2016 05:02 PM

Rollo

Re: 1983

Quote:

As the hours went by, her situation began to appear hopeless. While she remembered her ordeal, she made a face at the troubling thought that the only way for something good to happen for her was if something bad happened to someone else. But soon, the troubled face turned to a sinister- looking smile. ''I was thinking, if I didn't get in, I'd hire somebody to trip somebody going up the stairs,'' she said. ''I really wanted to play. Bad.''

The girl had a sense of humor.

Jan 24th, 2016 04:47 PM

Rollo

Re: 1983

One Loser Wears A Winner's Badge

Published: September 1, 1983 in the New York TimesBy Malcolm Moran

Phyllis Blackwell sat in the lunch room for players and their guests at the United States Open tennis tournament. She sat there, complete with the player's badge she had received the day before, which gives her the privilege of coming and going around the National Tennis Center as she pleases.

Her new badge, her spot in the tournament and her first match in the main draw of a grand-slam event had been the sudden result of Tracy Austin's back and rib injuries. When Miss Austin withdrew from the tournament on Tuesday evening, a replacement was necessary. So yesterday, in the order of play, the first evening match on the Grandstand Court was changed to read: ''Yvonne Vermaak vs. Lucky Loser.''

The lucky loser was a 26-year-old graduate of the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, with a ranking of 138th among women players in her fourth year on the tour. At one point in her brief career, she wondered if she had become a victim of burnout. Until about six weeks ago, she had feared that her playing career might be ended by an injury to her right ankle that she suffered in February.

For those who envision a sport filled with wealthy, pampered, ill- mannered, sawdust-throwing juveniles, there is also the existence of Phyllis Blackwell, lucky loser.

''People think it's so glamorous,'' she said. ''It's really not. It's like any other job. It has its good points and its bad points. It's really good if you're up there, in the top 50. If you're not, it's hard. It's like being a peon.''

When she lost her third match in the qualifying tournament on Sunday, she was placed in an awkward position. One lucky loser had been admitted before the tournament began. Miss Blackwell had only one hope to gain a spot: If someone else could not play, she would be admitted as the highest-ranked loser remaining from the qualifications. She had been a lucky loser before. She lost a qualifying match at Richmond last December, and left to visit a friend in Norfolk, Va. When she arrived in Norfolk, there was a telephone call from her parents. The tournament officials had called. They wanted her to play.

The conditions are somewhat different at Flushing Meadows.

The United States Open does not operate a paging service for its prospective competitors. Thus, all day Tuesday, starting at 8 A.M., Phyllis Blackwell continually reported her whereabouts to the operations desk. ''You have to say where you are,'' she said. ''Like, 'Now, I'm going to eat.' ''

She practiced from 8:30 to 9:30 A.M., then waited. She checked to see if everyone had appeared. She tried to learn about the progress of injured players. She listened for rumors.

Everyone was here. No one seemed especially troubled by injuries. And there weren't even any encouraging rumors. ''That was strange,'' Miss Blackwell said. ''The tennis world is such a rumor-filled place.''

As the hours went by, her situation began to appear hopeless. While she remembered her ordeal, she made a face at the troubling thought that the only way for something good to happen for her was if something bad happened to someone else. But soon, the troubled face turned to a sinister- looking smile. ''I was thinking, if I didn't get in, I'd hire somebody to trip somebody going up the stairs,'' she said. ''I really wanted to play. Bad.''

But as the matches went on and the others played, it seemed as if her misfortune would continue. Her ankle injury had provided a clue that this might not be a good year. Miss Blackwell had lost a qualifying match at Indianapolis in early February, and to cheer herself, she decided to go sledding with the children of her host family. That was her first mistake. ''I'm from Alabama,'' she said. ''I never go sledding. I didn't know enough. I go to the beach.''

Her second mistake came at the bottom of a steep, ice-covered hill. The children navigated safely through a turn. Miss Blackwell navigated herself into a concrete wall. That is not the first time someone has gone into a concrete wall at Indianapolis, but it may be a first for a tennis player.

To protect her head, she threw her feet forward, and her right ankle suffered most of the damage. There was no fracture, but she said ligaments were injured seriously enough that she wondered if her lateral movement would ever be good enough to play in a tournament.

She eventually returned home to Mobile, Ala., to teach at two clubs. Late Monday afternoon, it appeared that her luck had not changed. ''In fact,'' she said, ''it looked pretty hopeless. In fact, I almost went home.''

At about 5 o'clock, she told Patty Ingersoll, a United States Tennis Association staff member, that she was ready to leave Flushing Meadows and drive to Paterson, N.J., where she was staying. ''She said: 'Well, you might want to wait around. You never know,' '' Miss Blackwell remembered. ''I thought that the traffic might be pretty bad.''

And sure enough, a little more than an hour after she decided to wait for the rush hour to end, came the news about Miss Austin's withdrawal and the discovery that she was suddenly scheduled for a match on the Grandstand Court. ''Then,'' Miss Blackwell said, ''I was like. . . .'' And she sat and trembled.

Her trip to Flushing Meadows ended when she was beaten, 6-4, 6-1, by Yvonne Vermaak, a semifinalist at Wimbledon. Still, Phyllis Blackwell now feels strong enough to consider giving up her teaching jobs and attempting to qualify for the Australian Open, the only grand-slam stop she has not yet made.

Jo Durie, the British No 1, shed a few tears of relief as slumped into the courtside chair after reaching the fourth round of the United States Open on another of those exhausting and sultry days at Flushing Meadow, New York, yesterday.

Miss Durie’s emotional reaction was understandable, she had just beaten Terry Phelps, 16, one of those tough American schoolgirl baseliners America seems to produce in such quantity, by 6-4 3-6 6-2, it could have been a disaster.

After leading none to confidently by a set and 3-1, Miss Durie’s concentration, like her tennis, went to pieces. She dropped five games in a row to lose the second set and was then broken in the opening game of the third from 30-0.

Exactly a week earlier Miss Durie had been achieving one of the highlights of her career by defeating last year’s US Open runner up, Hana Mandlikova in the final of the Mahwah tournament, and it was almost as if the strain of nine singles in this heat, plus doubles, in 14 days suddenly caught up with her.

Turnbull Out

The happiest moment of the day for Miss Durie probably came an hour later, Wendy Turnbull, the sixth seed, who should have been her quarter final opponent providing she overcame Rosie Casals or Virginia Wade’s protégé, Anne White, today went out to Andrea Leand 7-5 4-6 6-2.

Miss Durie’s unnerving survival means there are British players in the last 16 of both singles events for the first time since 1977, for just 24 hours earlier John Lloyd registered another thoroughly determined victory.

Like Miss Durie, Lloyd had his moments of self doubt, but then a sharpened serve restored his confidence and he went on to beat Terry Moor, ranked 119 in the world, 6-4 5-7 2-6 6-0 6-1.

Aaron Krickstein, 16, became the youngest player ever to reach the last 16 when he astonishingly defeated 15th seed Vitas Gerulaitis after twice being within a point of trailing 2-5 in the final set. He took 15 of the last 18 points for a 3-6 3-6 6-4 6-3 6-4 triumph.

Stunning Shots

Krickstein, wearing a cast on his right knee to protect an injury which had forced him to withdraw from the juniors, fired a fusillade of stunning groundstrokes, his forte throughout the match.

Twice Gerulaitis double-faulted on a point which would have given him a 5-2 lead. Then came another to give Krickstein, who had never won a round in major tournaments, the virtual breakback.

Gerulaitis, runner-up in 1979, double-faulted again to go 4-5 down, and Krickstein then swept on to join the two other unexpected survivors who had been given wild cards, Greg Holmes and Britain’s John Lloyd.

Maybe the proprietors of the US Open should set aside a special entryway at Flushing Meadow for Martina Navratilova over which would hang a signboard : “Ye Who Enter Here Abandoned Hope Forever”.

Of course such a message would not dissuade the finest of female women tennis players from trying again and again and again to win the one and only championship that, curiously, has eluded her iron left-handed grasp. “Naturally I want it and I will keep trying for it”, she laughed seemingly composed, “and this year I think I shall get it”.

She has said that before, has come in as the favourite before and failed abruptly before – every year for ten years. Only once has she reached the last Sunday, and the final, a destination she has been seeded for five times. That was two years ago when, having overcome arch-rival Chris Evert in the semi and blasted through the first set of the title round, she collapsed in the next two sets against Tracy Austin.

“It is strange and frustrating”, concedes Navratilova, Strange? It’s downright bizarre, a long-term jinx of the sort that enshrouded Sir Thomas Lipton, the sail boating squire, in his unfulfilled quest for the Americas Cup, or another old salt, Ahab, on his futile fishing trips.

Apparently she has been afflicted by the disease known as Borg’s syndrome, named for a great Swedish player who went for a duck himself in 10 swings at the US Open. If Navratilova, the overwhelming choice, misses again this 11th time the illness will probably be known as Martina’s Malady. It’s symptoms are errant behaviour, trembly and swoony whenever the sufferer enters the New York Borough of Queens, scene of the Open between 1968 and 1977 on grass, then clay, at Forest Hill, and since in the asphalte menagerie at Flushing.

All this may seem incomprehensible to those of you who have watched Martina win four Wimbledons while looking like the reincarnation of Diana. To you she is conceivable the strongest, quickest, most overpowering woman ever to play the game. To New Yorkers she is just another hardship case, an unpronounceable name who annually finds a way to flop at the Open.

And what spectacular flops they have been, although Martina’s debacles may have shown a philanthropic spirit. In chucking away matches and throwing bones to underdogs, she gave some of them their best – and maybe last – taste of fame. In her 1973 debut she lost to a since forgotten British woman, Veronica Burton. Three years later, seeded third, she brightened Janet Newberry’s life momentarily by losing to her in the first round. In successive years Martina then helped Wendy Turnbull, Pam Shriver, Tracy Austin and Hana Mandlikova to some of their earliest headlines by tripping over them.

Last year it was Shriver victorious again, in the quarters, after Martina led 6-1 5-3, 30-15. The excuse was a mysterious ailment called poxoplasmosis. “How come it struck when she was two points from winning?”, asked Shriver, miffed that her doubles partner gave more credit to a virus than to Pam. Maybe it was a poxoplasmosis, maybe it was Borg’s syndrome.

Whatever, Martina has joined the distinguished, though uncomfortable, company of Ken Rosewall and Pancho Gonzalez, the greatest players never to win Wimbledon, and Lew Hoad and Bjorn Borg, the greatest players never to win the US crown as conspicuous big occasion losers. However, she and Borg crumbled considerably more times than the others.

Although Open witnesses over the years have seen her metamorphosis from the Great Wide Hope to a sleek, destructive athlete, the reality is that in this precinct Martina has spewed more tears than winners. “I have been good at crying here, haven’t I?” she smiled.

Tears of joy will be in order this time, she firmly believes. “I consider myself the underdog”, she says as the listener gasps. Underdog? “Well I have never won. I do not think there is a jinx, but I have been unlucky and unprepared in other years when I was playing team tennis all summer. It is hard to play in New York with all the distraction and noise but I do love the City and the fans and the fast surface is good for me. I am playing the best tennis of my life”.

Mats Wilander does not expect to win this year’s US Open. Nor does he mind if he never becomes number one in the world. “I just want to be better at tennis. Everyone can’t win or be the best – all you can do is try”.

At 19, Wilander, though already the youngest French champion, remains one of the game’s low-key stars – but he visibly impressed the critical Flushing Meadows assembly yesterday in dismissing the reliable Brian Gottfried 6-3 6-4 7-6 in the second round.

Everyone calls Wilander “the second Borg” but unlike his Swedish predecessor, who is considering entering some minor Grand Prix tournaments in 1984, he puts no pressure on himself by setting specific goals. He just keeps improving.

At 5-0 up in the third set Gottfried, who began the tournament by beating Tim Mayotte, looked as though he might have the measure of the Swede. Wilander simply took the next six games in succession, faltered briefly when serving for the match, then raised his game once more to take the tie-break.

He still prefers to play on clay and admits to being uncomfortable on cement. “I need to work on my serve, my volley and my approach shots”.

Many, Gottfried included, might regard that being hyper self-critical in a year Wilander has improved beyond recognition and on the same surface at Cincinatti recently, he beat both John McEnroe and Ivan Lendl.

McEnroe, precariously close to suspension limit on his year’s fines, also kept a low profile, concentrated on his game and annihilated John Sadri, a rival since college days by 6-0 6-1 6-4 in 92 minutes of brilliant stroke play. Yannick Noah, the French title holder, was just as good beating Jerome Vanier 6-4 6-4 6-4.

Time ran out, however, for losing Wimbledon finalist, Chris Lewis from New Zealand. He went down in straight sets to 16th seed Bill Scanlon but there was success for some of the circuit’s lesser lights.

At 16, Aaron Krickstein, from Michigan, became the youngest player to reach the last 32 when he beat Scott Lipton 6-3 6-1 6-2 and Jonny Levine, 19, was an equally unexpected victor by 7-5 6-7 6-1 2-6 6-1 against Peter Fleming.

Krickstein is 489th in the rankings and Levine 334th – which tends to make a nonsense of the computer standings. In the next round Krickstein plays Vitas Gerulaitis, while Levine’s likely opponent is Lendl.

In spite of Virginia Wade’s 6-2 6-3 loss to the Hungarian Andrea Temesvari in the early hours, Britain maintains a real interest in the women’s singles. A below-par Jo Durie was too powerful for her 18 year old Japanese opponent Estuko Inoue, winning 7-5 6-3.

With a relatively easy match against the young American Terry Phelps tomorrow, she should fulfil her seeding by reaching the last 16.

Even with her obvious limitations, Miss Inoue showed a stubborn streak. “She didn’t give me any pace”, said Miss Durie, “and I tried to rush things. That’s when the mistakes began”.

At 3-1 in the opening set it looked a formality but when things went wrong Miss Durie was close to panic before finding her rhythm with a winning sequence of 13 points.

She may have been cheered by the subsequent defeat of Kathy Rinaldi, one of the other seeds in her quarter. She lost a long baseline battle with Ivanna Madruga-Osses.

Wendy Turnbull, though not in action, kept the referee’s office busy when she saw the draw for the mixed doubles and found that she and John Lloyd, the Wimbledon winners, were not included. A search recovered the entry form and the draw was remade.

=====

Martina Navratilova, Wimbledon Champion and firm favourite to win the US Open, makes her first appearance for the US in the Wightman Cup match against Great Britain at Williamsburg from November 3-5.

Aug 29th, 2015 07:52 PM

AdeyC

Re: 1983

THE TIMES – Saturday 3rd September 1983
WILANDER EMERGING FROM BORG’S SHADOW

Mats Wilander, last year’s champion of France, is consolidating his status as the best outside bet for the men’s singles title in the United States championships. Less than a fortnight past his 19th birthday, Wilander has so far played in the shadow of his great compatriot, Bjorn Borg. That would no longer be the case if Wilander became US champion, an achievement that eluded Borg in spite of 10 attempts.

Wilander reached the last 32 yesterday by winning 6-3 6-4 7-6 against Brian Gottfried, who led 5-0 in the third set. In the previous round Gottfried had lost only one set to Tim Mayotte, who in three appearances at Wimbledon has never been beaten before the quarter-final. The collateral form says much for Wilander’s improvement on fast courts. The chances are, though, that his game has not yet developed far enough to enable him to win here this year – on courts that have mostly been re-surfaced, which has had the effect of slightly raising the tempo of the tennis.

John Lloyd’s admirable win over Jose Higueras on Thursday, meant that one seed (the other was Jose Luis Clerc) has been removed from each half of the draw. Lloyd has an obvious chance to reach the last 16 at the expense of Terry Moor, but would probably then face two more formidable hurdles, Mark Dickson and John McEnroe in turn. Thanks to Joanna Durie, who yesterday made hard work of a 7-5 6-3 win over a tidy and tenacious Japanese, Etsuko Inoue, Britain also have a player in the last 32 of the women’s event.

Miss Durie’s next opponent will be Terry Phelps, 16, who is playing in her home state. After that, Anne White and Wendy Turnbull would probably stand between Miss Durie and the semi-finals. Two of the four seeds have already dropped out of the relevant quarter of the draw. Tracy Austin scratched because she was unfit and Kathy Rinaldi was beaten yesterday by Ivanna Madruga-Osses.

Other women’s seeds to lose here have been Virginia Ruzici (to Catherine Tanvier), Claudia Kohde (to Bonnie Gadusek) and Barbara Potter (to Lisa Bonder). These winners are all seeded and another, Andrea Temesvari, aged 17, beat Virginia Wade, 38, by 6-2 6-3 in a Thursday match that did not begin to almost midnight. Perhaps the most ludicrous feature of these championships, in view of their status, is the disparity in playing conditions between daylight and floodlight. The idea of having separate programmes is to pack in two crowds, give the evening customers value for money and increase the profits.

Two other teenage winners to note – for different reasons were Grace Kim and Pat Cash. Miss Kim, aged 15 is national 16 and under champion and had to qualify to play here. She beat Beth Herr in spite of a nose bleed and a mild attack of cramp in her stomach muscles. Cash, 18, was fined almost £830 for misconduct during his match with Glenn Michibata of Canada. Cash, an Australian, had either forgotten his sporting heritage or ignored it.

Chris Lewis, runner-up at Wimbledon, was beaten 6-3 6-3 6-3 by the seeded Bill Scanlon. Among the interesting names in the last 32 are those of Gianni Ocleppo and Eric Korita. Ocleppo, an unusual Italian, in that he excels on hard courts, seems to have begun a second career at 26. Korita, aged 20, comes from Chicage. He is 6ft 5in tall and used to eat too much. But within a year his weight has dropped from 17 stone 2lb to 14st 4lb and his ranking has risen 161 places. The power of Korita’s service is frightening – and a place in the last four may be in reach.

Aug 29th, 2015 07:52 PM

AdeyC

Re: 1983

DAILY EXPRESS – Saturday 3rd September 1983
NO PANIC, DURIE

Jo Durie needed all her new-found mental toughness yesterday to keep British hopes alive in the women’s singles of the US Open at Flushing Meadows yesterday.

Miss Durie came through 7-5 6-3 in a tense second round match against nimble Japanese Etsuko Inoue but admitted : “I was close to panicking myself out of it in the first set.”

Luckily for British fans – who had seen Virginia Wade crash out 6-2 6-3 to Hungarian teenager Andrea Temesvari around midnight the previous night – Miss Durie pulled herself together in time to prevent a disaster.

Miss Inoue, ranked 77th in the world, surprised Miss Durie with the power of her groundstrokes and her accurate volleying.

But fortunately for Miss Durie she was very inconsistent.

Hana Mandlikova, last years runner-up was taken to 7-5 7-6 by 18 year-old Kathy Horvath before edging into the last 32.

Martina Navratilova, as usual, had no trouble in scoring her 61st victory in 62 matches this year and beat fellow American Louise Allen 6-2 6-1.

John McEnroe, only a moment of madness away from a possible six-week suspension, behaved impeccably on his way to the last 32.

His tennis was as good as his behaviour as he dismissed fellow countryman John Sadri 6-0 6-1 6-4 in just over 2.5 hours.

New Zealander, Chris Lewis, the man McEnroe beat in the Wimbledon final two months ago was beaten 6-3 6-3 6-3 by 16th seed Bill Scanlon, of Dallas.

Swedish teenager Mats Wilander had a 6-3 6-4 7-6 win over Brian Gottfried after trailing 0-5 in the third set but fourth seeded Yannick Noah, Wilander’s successor as French champion, moved forward with a 6-4 6-4 6-4 victory over another Frenchman Jerome Vanier.

Jo Durie is becoming the master of her tennis trade and yesterday produced a professional rather than a polished performace to reach the third round of the US Open.

Without lifting her game to any great heights and making more errors than she will normally be permitted, the Bristol girl took 68 minutes to beat Etsuko Inoue 7-5 6-3.

The 18-year old Tokyo player – like Miss Durie the daughter of a banker – has been well coached and was solid enough off the ground to test the British No 1, who has climbed to No 14 in the world.

Miss Durie’s task looked deceptively easy at the beginning, but after an early break of service she dropped her own in the sixth game and was lucky at set point when her forehand appeared long but was given ‘good’.

She was never in danger of defeat and broke service in the first and final games of the second set.

Afterwards she said : “With all the noise it was difficult to concentrate, but this is no excuse as it was the same for both of us. A year ago I might have panicked but I’m much tougher now.”

Attractive

Miss Durie is Britain’s sole survivor in the women’s singles. In the early hours of the morning Virginia Wade went out 6-2 6-3 to the attractive young Hungarian Andrea Temesvari, the No 9 seed.

There were only 200 insomniacs remaining on the massive Stadium Court which holds 20,000 and, around midnight, Virginia turned to them and pleaded : “Please don’t walk out on me”.

Martina Navratilova, the world No 1 and Wimbledon champion who is yet to win the Open in ten attempts is looking a stronger favourite every day. Her 6-2 6-1 win over Louise Allen, from North Carolina, was her second successive easy victory.

Following his wonder win over world No 10 Jose Higueras, John Lloyd meets Terry Moor from Tennessee today. Moor was ranked 91st in the world at the start of the tournament, Lloyd was 272.

John McEnroe, within a 200 dollar fine of facing 21 days suspension, played a cool, almost perfect match to beat his old college rival John Sadri 6-0 6-1 6-4 in 92 minutes.

The Wimbledon champion conceded only eight points in a 23-minute opening set and tool the first nine games before Sadri saved a possible whitewash.

New Zealander Chris Lewis, the surprise Wimbledon finalist, failed to survive the second round. He went out 6-3 6-3 6-3 to Texan Bill Scanlon.

Apr 15th, 2015 12:19 AM

AdeyC

Re: 1983

DAILY TELEGRAPH – Saturday 3rd September 1983
DURIE THROUGH BUT WADE OUT

Jo Durie, the British no 1, who has climbed to 14th in the world rankings, was well below the form now expected of her as she beat the little-known Japanese player Etsuko Inoue to reach the third round of the US Open yesterday.

On the other hand, the most important fact was that without playing well she still managed to overcome exactly the sort of tricky challenge which might have become an embarrassing pitfall in the past.

Miss Inoue, 18, is a neat, fleet-footed competitor with impressive ground strokes, and Miss Durie, whose judgement in such matters is one of the key elements in her game which needs improvement, quickly discovered the risk she ran of being passed unless the approach shot was perfect.

Miss Durie eventually won 7-5 6-3 and despite taking 13 consecutive points at the end of the first set into the third game of the second still had to work hard against an opponent who made very few unforced errors.

Noisy Court

Admittedly, total concentration was almost impossible on an outside court and one of the most restless, noisiest section of Flushing Meadow, but this was one of those uncomfortable experiences Miss Durie will be pleased to have put behind her.

Miss Durie, who ought now to reach at least the quarter-finals, is the only British survivor in the womens singles for, in a match which did not go on court until 11.21 pm, and ended at 12.36 am, Virginia Wade succumbed 6-2 6-3 to the fierce-hitting Andrea Temesvari.

Barely 200 people, responding to Miss Wade’s “please don’t walk out on me” appeal, were still in the 20,000 capacity stadium at the end of the night when it took No 6 Guillermo Vilas three hours and 40 minutes to beat American Tom Cain 6-7 6-3 6-3 2-6 6-2.

Pat Cash, 18, of Australia, the former world junior champion, who reached the last 16 at Wimbledon this year, was fined £800 for racket abuse and un-sportsmanlike behaviour during his four-set victory over Canadian, Glenn Michibata.

Martina Navratilova continued confidently with a 6-2 6-1 entry into the third round against Louise Allen, but Kathy Horvath, the teenager who in Paris gave the World No 1 her only defeat in 62 matches this year, was unable to achieve another upset.

Despite a 4-2 advantage in the first set and 3-1 in the second, Miss Horvath could not quite counter the extravagant flair of Hana Mandlikova, who won 7-5 7-6.

There were comfortable and impressive wins for John McEnroe over John Sadri, Yannick Noah against Jerome Vanier and Mats Wilander against Brian Gottfried, but Wimbledon runner-up Chris Lewis was beaten by 16th seed Bill Scanlon 6-3 6-3 6-3.

Apr 11th, 2015 11:42 PM

AdeyC

Re: 1983

THE GUARDIAN – Friday 2nd September 1983
LLOYD ROLLS BACK THE YEARS TO REACH LAST 32

John Lloyd’s rehabilitation continues encouragingly. Yesterday he closed the credibility gap after five years of constant frustration and disappointment when he beat the 10th seed, Jose Higueras of Spain, by 6-3 6-4 7-5 to reach the last 32 of the US Open at Flushing Meadow.

It was the ninth time Lloyd has played in the US Open, his 20th match, his 11th win but his first against a seed. There had been grumbles about his receiving a wild card entry – he is currently ranked 272nd in the world – but he has already more than justified the faith placed in him. His performance drew packed crowds and he responded with forceful attacking tennis which often left Higueras reeling.

The two are old adversaries. Back in the 70’s they met regularly in the Gales and King’s Cup competitions. In those days there was little to choose between them: since 1978, however, Higueras has dominated each time he has played, even on grass.

Normally Higueras shuns cement court tournaments, but since marrying an American girl, and taking up residence in Palm Springs, he has learned to cope – so effectively, that he won the Palm Springs title earlier in the year.

Against Lloyd in his present mood, however, Higueras often looked out of his class. Perhaps the most encouraging aspect of the British No 4’s performance was that he rowed the oars so confidently.

Lloyd, who was 29 last week, said that with only three or four more years in the game it was a case of now or never. “Lounging about playing for qualifying is no fun, believe me. I had got to the stage where I doubted whether I could win again but after two good matches here I’m beginning to believe in myself. I’ve worked really hard for this”.

In blisteringly hot conditions, which one would have expected to favour the bearded Spaniard, Lloyd maintained a tremendous pace. The only times he faltered were when dropping his serve in the fifth game of the second set – he broke back immediately – and in the ninth game of the third, when serving for the match.

At 6-5, though, he broke Higueras’ service at the cost of only one point for what must have been his best win for many years.

Once before in a major championship, Lloyd has beaten a seeded player. That was Roscoe Tanner at Wimbledon. Then, of course, he was on the upgrade and by 1978 was ranked in the low 20’s.

Since then he has followed a consistently downward path, although he has applied himself with real determination in recent months and must now be regarded as the strongest member of the Davis Cup team, even if he is not yet the highest ranked.

There were fears for Gene Mayer, the 11th seed, when he trailed by two sets to one in his second round match with a 22 year-old South African qualifier, Christo Steyn. Steyn’s nerve broke at the crucial stage of the fourth set, when he lost serve on two double faults and the American then survived without undue difficulty.

Because of rain on Wednesday, Martina Navratilova’s entrance was delayed overnight. Yesterday she made up for lost time when she beat the Argentinian, Emilse Raponi-Longo 6-1 6-1 in 39 minutes for her 60th singles victory of the year.

One of Miss Navratilova’s favourite comments at Wimbledon, where she won without dropping a set, was that she usually had to work harder on the practice court. Yesterday that was certainly true. Her press conference was almost as long.

In 10 attempts, Miss Navratilova has still to win the US title – many think she never will, like Bjorn Borg – but she denied that she felt she was in any way jinxed. She felt her tennis was quite adequate for the job.

Apart from Chris Lloyd, who must have been delighted at her husband’s success, no one seems likely to challenge the No 1 seed who has already won 11 singles and nine doubles titles this year. “But I am not going to make the mistake of being overconfident”, she said. “Everyone seems to think I was going to win in Paris, and look what happened”.

Kathy Horvath, who stopped her in the French, was one of yesterday’s winers. So too were Wendy Turnbull and Kathy Rinaldi, the only two seeded players left in the same quarter of the draw as Britain’s Jo Durie.

Tomorrow Lloyd will play the American Terry Moor, a player with a worse ranking than either of the opponents he has already beaten. Moor needed five sets to overcome the Australian, Paul McNamee 6-4 3-6 4-6 6-3 7-5.

Apr 9th, 2015 11:49 PM

AdeyC

Re: 1983

EVENING STANDARD – Friday 2nd September 1983
EXIT WADE IN LATE, LATE SHOW

Only 200 people were there to see it happen, but Virginia Wade’s exit from the US Open in the early hours of today night mark her farewell to one of the great arenas of the game.

“Please don’t walk out on me” Virginia had smiled at the crowd when she went to work not long before midnight in the second round. But many sensed what would happen against 17 year old Andrea Temesvari, and left when it did.

Age gaps can be starkly decisive in tennis and 38 year old Virginia could not close this one against the statuesque ninth seeded Hungarian.

Andrea won 6-2 6-3 in 75 minutes and solidly though Virginia played, there was never a serious doubt about the result.

Nice

As Britain’s long serving No 1 Miss Wade was in at the start of Open tennis in 1968, won the US title in that year and has now played a record 19 championships.

But last night she and Miss Temesvari, who happened to be doubles partners as well this week, had to wait almost four hours while Guillermo Vilas beat Tom Cain in five sets.

“Vilas messed around out there, he could have won in straight sets, he played such an ineffective match”, said Virginia. “There we were set for a nice women’s match before a good crowd and we end up going out at 11.30”.

So, a quarter final place at Wimbledon could prove to be the highlight of Miss Wade’s year. But she is not retiring and could well challenge for Britain’s Wightman Cup team in November when Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver will be on front line duty for the United States.

Virginia’s defeat leaves Jo Durie as Britain’s last survivor and well positioned to make her 14th seeding seem misplaced.

Jo continues in the second round today against the Japanese teenager Etsuko Inoue and should clinch a place in the last 16 over the weekend.

Now firmly heading for the top ten after her first important tournament victory at Mahwah, New Jersey last Sunday, Jo ought to be ready for almost anything America can throw at her. She won the singles outdoors, the doubles indoors, and at midnight on her way to New York had to sit on the George Washington bridge for two hours because of an accident.

John Lloyd, Britain’s lone challenger on the men’s singles, gratefully accepted a wild card entry into the championship and is now in the third round against the American left-hander Terry Moor with a confident 6-3 6-4 7-5 win over 10th seed Jose Higueras of Spain.

Wife Chris, defending the women’s crown, offered this thought on John’s win: “I used to get upset with him in these matches where he had mentally given up, but he has worked hard to keep his concentration.”

Jo Durie, whose path to the quarter-finals of the United States ought to have been opened up by the withdrawal of the injured Tracy Austin, was in sparkling form as she defeated the South African, Ros Fairbank, in the first round in New York yesterday, writes John Parsons.

Three other British girls, however, Annabel Croft – after leading Kimberley Schaefer 3-0 in the final set – Shelley Walpole despatched by defending champion Chris Lloyd and most disappointing of all, Anne Hobbs, was eliminated.

Miss Hobbs went out 3-6 6-1 7-5 to the Yugoslav teenager, Sabrina Goles, after playing the second half of the match under threat of instant disqualification and then, after missing two match points in the 10th game of the final set.

Unlike the men, who can err three times before being on the verge of elimination, the women are allowed only two chances and Miss Hobbs was warned, first for angrily hitting the ball away after dropping her serve on the second game of the second set, and three games later for time-wasting.

Concentration Spoiled

Miss Hobbs, bitterly upset, contended that this second warning, which clearly wrecked her concentration until she was 3-1 down in the final set was all a huge misunderstanding. For while the Italian umpire watched her apparently stalling, he did not see the reason why.

Miss Goles, at the other end of the court, turned away as she was not ready, just as the Cheshire girl was about to swing into her delivery.

“It was all so unfair” said Miss Hobbs. “Just because the umpire didn’t look at the other player I was given the warning. That meant I only hjad to bang one other ball out of court or say one swear word, and I would be defaulted”.

On the other hand, having player herself out of such peril into a winning position, Miss Hobbs then squandered the opportunity by rushing into her shots and failing to take either of those two match-points.

By happy contrast. Miss Durie was at the very peak of her form in avenging by the same 6-1 6-3 score the defeat she suffered from Miss Fairbank at Edgbaston last summer.

Having played so positively in qualifying, it was a shame that Miss Croft wilted so swiftly from a 3-0 lead in the final set against the former Kim Jones, while Miss Walpole, who had also done so well to qualify, was ruthlessly swept aside 6-1 6-0 by Mrs Lloyd.

Jo Durie, playing what she described as “dream tennis”, took only 48 minutes to reach the second round of the US Open here at Flushing Meadow yesterday.

That’s the time the British No 1 needed to beat South Africa’s Ros Fairbank 6-1 6-3. It was a victory which could set the British girl on course to the quarter-finals.

Consistency

It was also a demonstration of her improved consistency which first showed itself when she reached the semi-finals of the French Championship in June, and even more so when she defeated Hana Mandlikova – runner up here last year – in the New Jersey final last Sunday.

Under grey skies which threatened ran, Miss Durie’s aggressive tennis in the opening set was the most devastating I have ever seen her produce. She conceded just one point on service, and only 12 points in all during the 19 minutes.

And this was against an opponent who has beaten her in their previous three meetings.

“I thought it was going to be really tough so I got myself psyched up and, when I led her 6-1 and 2-0 in the second set, it was just like a dream”, she told me later.

At this stage Miss Durie missed a volley and this one mistake upset her rhythm.

“I have never seen her play so well. She was almost perfect until that volley, then she panicked a bit”, said Alan Jones, her travelling coach.

Miss Durie, now a mature 23 and ranked 14th in the world, was soon back in her winning groove and she took the next three games and the last ten points in succession.

Anne Hobbs, in contrast, had a nightmare day. She was defeated 3-6 6-1 7-5 by 17 year-old Sabrina Goles after having two match points in the 10th game of the final set. First, she netted a forcing forehand, and then the run-for-everything Yugoslav trapped her out of position with a backhand passing short.

She was also given two official warnings – one for blasting a dead fall and the second for taking more than the permitted 30 seconds to serve.

Annabel Croft, the 17 year-old British girl, went out with some credit to experienced American Kim Schaefer. Having broken away from the LTA and now trained by Owen Davidson in Houston, the Kent teenager was beaten 6-3 6-7 6-3 after making a brave recovery from 3-5 in the second set to win the tie-break 7-5.

Britain’s other qualifier, Shelley Walpole, made a dramatic start against six-times champion Chris Lloyd by breaking service in the opening game. And then, not surprisingly, she lost the next 12.

Suspension

John McEnroe, the Wimbledon champion, and three times US Open winner, is only 200 dollars away from being suspended for 21 days.

Three fines during his opening singles on Tuesday – 1,000 dollars for abusing a spectator, 500 dollars for abusing a court official and 350 dollars for abusing a ball – brought his total of fines for the past 12 months to 7,300 dollars. The official limit is 7,500 dollars.

If he is suspended and depending on an appeal – it could be a blow for Ireland for McEnroe is due to play a Davis Cup match in Dublin at the end of the month.

Apr 7th, 2015 12:38 AM

louloubelle

Re: 1983

^ Where she declared that she was ready to 'take' Martina! Won the first from 2-4 down, but the match was delayed till the next day due to rain.

Jo really should've gotten back to 5 all in the 3rd set in that match, she had Martina 0-40 on serve.

Jo was on such a run from the French onward! I was lucky enough to see her in Wightman Cup later in the fall. The one match I would truly love to see from 1983 is the Australian Open quarterfinal where she gave Navratilova a scare.

Yes me too

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